How to install and use the G4Music app on Linux

If you’ve been looking for a new music app for Linux, look no further than G4Music. G4Music is a new, elegant GTK4 music application for Linux. It is light and easy to use. In this guide, we’ll show you how to install and use it on your Linux system.

How to install G4Music on Linux

The G4Music application is available for users officially as a Flatpak. However, it is also available on various versions of OpenSUSE Linux as an RPM package. This package can be converted to a DEB package for both Ubuntu and Debian. Additionally, the app is available in the AUR for Arch Linux users.

To get G4Music working on your Linux system, you’ll need to open up a terminal window. You can launch a terminal window by pressing Ctrl + Alt + T on the keyboard. Or, by searching for “Terminal” in the app menu.

Once the terminal window is open, the installation can begin. Follow along with the installation instructions below that correspond with the Linux operating system you use.

Set up on Ubuntu/Debian

To use G4Music on Ubuntu or Debian, you’ll first need to download the G4Music RPM package from the OpenSUSE Build Service. You can download it with the following command.

wget https://provo-mirror.opensuse.org/repositories/home%3A/Dead_Mozay%3A/GNOME%3A/Apps/openSUSE_Tumbleweed/x86_64/g4music-1.8.2-1.4.x86_64.rpm

After downloading the package, install the Alien package conversion tool using the following command.

sudo apt install alien

Once the Alien package conversion tool is installed, use it to convert the RPM package to a DEB package using the following command.

sudo alien -dvc g4music-1.8.2-1.4.x86_64.rpm

When the conversion is complete, you’ll get “g4music_1.8.2-2.4_amd64.deb.” Ensure you have audio codecs installed (this is easily done by installing VLC.) Then, install G4Music on your system with the following command.

sudo apt install ./g4music_1.8.2-2.4_amd64.deb

Set up on Arch Linux

If you wish to install G4Music on your Arch Linux system, you will need to install it via the unofficial AUR package. To start, install the “base-devel” and “git” packages using the command below.

sudo pacman -S git base-devel

With the two packages installed, use the git clone command to download the Trizen AUR helper to your system. You can install Trizen with the makepkg -sri command.

git clone https://aur.archlinux.org/trizen.git

cd trizen/

makepkg -sri

Finally, install the G4Music app on your system using the trizen -S command.

trizen -S g4music

Set up on Fedora

There’s no official repo or way to set up G4Music as an RPM, as OpenSUSE RPM packages aren’t always compatible with Fedora. However, the Flatpak installation of G4Music will work fine, so follow those instructions instead.

Set up on OpenSUSE

Those on OpenSUSE can install G4Music with the “1 Click Install” button on the OpenSUSE Build Service page. To get it working on your system, head over to the official page. Once there, select your version of SUSE, and select the “1 Click Install” button to get set it up.

Set up as a Flatpak

To install G4Music as a Flatpak, you must first enable the Flatpak runtime. Follow our setup guide to learn how to get Flatpak working on your system. Then, with the Flatpak runtime configured, install G4Music on your system with the commands below.

flatpak remote-add --if-not-exists flathub https://flathub.org/repo/flathub.flatpakrepo

flatpak install flathub com.github.neithern.g4music

How to use G4Music

To use G4Music, start by launching the Linux File Manager on the desktop. Once it is open, find “Music” and click on it with the mouse. After accessing this folder, copy all of your music files (songs, albums, etc.).

After copying your music into the folder, open up the G4Music app. When you open up the G4Music, it should automatically detect your music files. From here, locate the sidebar on the left-hand side, and select a song to listen to.

Sorting the songs

By default, your music is sorted by “title”. If you wish to sort your songs by “artist,” “album,” etc., do the following. First, find the left-hand sidebar, and click the icon to the left of the search button.

After selecting the button, a menu will appear. In this menu, choose how your music is to be sorted. Upon making a selection, your music will re-sort itself. You can then select a song to play in G4Music to start enjoying your tunes.

Changing music locations

The default location for music is the “Music” folder in the home directory. However, you can change it by doing the following. First, find the left-hand sidebar. Then, click on the 3-dot menu, and select the “Music” folder underneath “Load music from folder”.